Verify status of cemeteries, Bombay HC tells BMC commissioner

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the BMC chief to depute a responsible officer to verify the current position of kabrastans in the city and inform the court about their status on September 25.
The HC expressed its displeasure at the lack of serious efforts by the BMC in acquiring land for a cemetery. It said, “While reserving a particular plot for some particular use, its suitability for the purpose for which it is reserved should be prime consideration for the authorities,and in this case, from …the affidavit itself filed, it is clear that the plot was not suitable to be reserved for the cemetery.’’
The bench of Chief Justice Devendra KumarUpadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor said while hearing a PIL filed by Shamsher Shaikh and another person over the ever-shrinking burial space in the cemeteries at Govandi and certain places in Mumbai.